Air traffic controllers lost contact with the Airbus A320-200 about an hour after it left Juanda international airport in Surabaya, east Java, at 5.20am local time. It was scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 8.30am.

Shortly before disappearing, the plane asked permission from Jakarta air traffic control to track away from its flight plan and climb above adverse weather in an area renowned for severe thunderstorms.

The pilots requested "deviation due to en route weather before communication with the aircraft was lost while it was still under the control of the Indonesian Air Traffic Control (ATC)", AirAsia said in a statement on its Facebook page.

It's the third major incident to affect a Malaysian carrier this year.

AirAsia said the plane was carrying 155 passengers as well as two pilots, four flight attendants and an engineer on the flight. As well as the Indonesian passengers there were three South Koreans, one Malaysian, one British and one Singaporean, according to AirAsia's statement on Sunday night.

One French national has also been identified as part of the crew. The breakdown of passengers is 138 adults, 16 children and a baby, said Indonesia's air transportation director general Djoko Murjatmodjo.